They had their whole lives to look forward to - if only their husbands could survive Vietnam.

I requested a review copy of Mrs Lieutenant by Phyllis Zimbler Miller because I was interetsed in these women's lives and, not knowing much about the Vietnam war and the events surrounding it, I was curious to learn more. Ms Miller was kind enough to send me a copy and to stop by this blog a few times.

Set in the spring of 1970, Mrs Lieutenant deals with the stories of four young women whose husband are called to go on active duty as officers on the US army. They find themselves together at Ft. Knox while their husbands undergo nine weeks of training. Different as though these four womes are, they have one thing in common: the fear that their husbands coudl be sent to Vietnam to fight - the fear to become war widows themselves.

These four women have very different backgrounds: Sharon is a Northern Jewish anti-war protester who fell in love with a ROTC cadet; Kim is a Southern Baptist whose husband is intensely jealous; Donna is a Pertorican who grew up in an enlisten man's family; and Wendy is a Sourthern black whose parents have sheltered her from racism in the US.

The main them of the book is feeling different--each of these women feels that she is different from all others: Sharon because she's a Jew; Kim because she's an orphan and has no family apart from her husband; Donna because she's Puertorican; and Wendy because she's black and doesn't know very much about the harsh reality of racism in America.

Another relevant theme in the book is overcoming prejudices: in the process of becoming friends, the four women have to overcome their prejudice, share their depp secrets and fears, and be initiated into their new lives as army officers' wives during the hard Vietnam war period.

This book is very different from what I usually read, but I enjoyed it a lot. I love reading about women's stories and femal friendships. This book is something to be reckoned with - a novel about the Vietnam war period seen from the perspective of women fearing for their husbands' lives.

The subtitle of the book, "A Sharon Gold Novel" makes me think there will be a sequel to this book - am I right?